1. Field of Invention
The invention relates generally to computer systems. More particularly, methods and apparatus for providing a reliable business to business message communication mechanism that substantially eliminates lost information in an enterprise computer system.
2. Description of Relevant Art
In modern enterprise computing environments, a number of personal computers, workstations, mainframes, and the like along with other devices such as large mass storage subsystems, network interfaces, as well as interfaces to the public telephony systems are interconnected providing an integrated environment in which information may be shared among the various users. Typically, users may be performing a variety of operations, including order receipt, manufacturing, shipping, billing, inventory control, and other operations in which sharing of data on a real time basis provides a significant advantage over, for example, maintaining separate records and attempting to reconcile them later.
With the advent of large-scale business to business (B2B) e-commerce, it has become of paramount importance for those companies (i.e., e-businesses) involved in e-commerce to be able to reliably conduct automated electronic transactions with multiple partners. Unfortunately, however, due to the lack of a unifying standard, there are no consistent rules that govern these B2B transactions. As a result, an e-business must be able to successfully accommodate multiple partners, each of which can have, for example, a different message transport protocol, a different way of representing the content of B2B messages, and a different way to represent the address information that envelopes the B2B message content (i.e., the B2B message envelope) in order to successfully conduct an e-business transaction. In addition, since each e-business partner is an independent entity, each partner can follow independent schedules and policies such as when their respective systems are available. Therefore, the e-business can find it nearly impossible to reconcile the almost limitless number of possible combinations for all potential e-business partners.
One approach to solving the problems of cross platform communication is to use component based, multi-tier applications based on, for example, Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) technology from Sun Microsystems Inc. of Mountain View, Calif. J2EE technology, in the form of an J2EE server, represents a multi-tier design that simplifies developing, deploying, and maintaining enterprise applications. It enables developers to focus on the specifics of programming their business logic, relying on the J2EE server to provide system services, and client-side applications (both stand alone and within web browsers) to provide the user interaction. Once developed, business logic can be deployed on servers appropriate to existing needs of an organization.
Although J2EE server technology substantially solves many of the problems related to cross platform performance, there still remains the need to provide a mechanism whereby an e-business and its respective e-business partners can reliably conduct an e-business transaction.
In addition to being able to reliably conducting an e-business transaction, it is also very important for companies conducting e-business transactions with multiple partners to be assured a capability of memorializing transactions in a transaction audit. For example, it is important for an administrator, for example, in a particular e-business to be able to look at an audit trail that memorializes a history of all B2B transaction traffic between the particular e-business and its various partners.
Therefore, in view of the foregoing, it would be advantageous and therefore desirable to have a scalable, cross platform enterprise computer system having the capability of conducting a reliable multi-platform e-business transaction across any number of independent partners without loss of relevant information.
Broadly speaking, the invention relates to an improved method, apparatus and computer system for sending messages in distributed B2B environment without substantial loss in relevant information in a multi-platform environment. The invention can be implemented in numerous ways, including as a method, a computer system, and an apparatus. Several embodiments of the invention are discussed below. In one embodiment, a method of maintaining informational integrity of a business to business (B2B) message in a distributed e-business environment is disclosed. A message is reviewed, and a determination is made if there is a first portion of the message to be stored. The first portion of the message is stored and a response message is then reviewed after which a determination is made whether or not the response message matches the stored first portion. The response message and the stored first portion are then compared after which a determination is made if a second portion of the response message is missing based upon the comparison. If it is determined that the second portion is missing, the response message is restored.
In another embodiment, an apparatus arranged to maintain informational integrity of a business to business (B2B) message in a distributed e-business environment. The apparatus includes a first processor for determining if there is a first portion of the message to be stored, and a first buffer coupled to the processor for storing the first portion of the sent message. The apparatus also includes a second buffer for storing a response message, a second processor coupled to the second buffer for reviewing the response message and determining if the response message matches the stored first portion, and a comparator coupled to the first and the second buffer for comparing the response message to the stored first portion. The apparatus further includes a third processor for determining if a second portion of the response message is missing based upon the comparing for forming a restored response message.